Whether you are driving off-road or on highways, a winch mounted at your jeep’s bumper always comes in handy for quick recovery.
It will be an act of foolishness to go out for a race in the dirt or mountain climbing without a functional winch in operation.
You never know when you will get stuck in a tough spot and need some heavy pull to get back on the track again.
Or it could be your friend’s wrangler rolling down the terrain asking for help. Having said that, the need for a powerful and reliable electric winch always comes into consideration.
That’s why we have come up with some of the best Rugged Ridge Winches reviews of 2022.
So, without any further ado, let’s find out one by one.
3 Best Rugged Ridge Winches
#1. Rugged Ridge 15100.08 Trekker Winch
Roaring over the hill with the gigantic wheels in rotations surely gives pleasure and an adrenaline rush to the hill trekkers.
On the other hand, it’s so likely to be stuck between the rocks or in an awkward position where a strong pull is obligatory to come out from the situation.
During that time, not any ordinary winch can serve your purpose. You need a manly winch that can actually pull the vehicle without snapping apart.
This is where you’ll feel the necessity of the Rugged Ridge 1500.08 Trekker winch in operation.
Apart from its confident matt black appearance, the Rugged Ridge 15100.08 Trekker Winch has an industry-standard pulling capacity of 10,000lbs.
It has a dimension of 24 x 13.5 x 10.5 inches that should fit your jeep’s front bumper quite easily.
This beast comes with a motor that can produce as much as 5.6 horsepower to pull faster than ever before. This is a wound motor, also known as a slip ring-rotor motor.
This type of motor’s winding is connected to the external resistance via slip rings, allowing you to adjust speed to the desired level.
Anyway, the 3-stage planetary gearbox comes with a 216:1 gear ratio. You’ll hardly find any other winches offering the same kind of gear ratio.
The gear rotation speed for an average winch is 150:1 whereas the Rugged Ridge 15100.08 offers way more than that.
The gear ratio is the indicator of how much time the motor rotates for each revolution of the spindle.
The higher the ratio, the more powerful the gearbox is. Well, you may ask why they don’t offer higher rotation then. They can.
But the fact is, a higher gear ratio can lead to a slower towing speed.
So, a perfect winch is designed keeping the electric motor’s capacity and gear ratio in consideration to provide a compromising balance between the speed and the power.
#2. Rugged Ridge 15100.40 Spartacus Heavy Duty Winch
The second product on the list is a 93 pounds steel cable winch from the same manufacturer.
The Rugged Ridge 15100.40 has a pulling capacity of 10,500 lbs which qualifies it as a heavy-duty recovery winch. It has a matt black outlook, along with its shiny silver cable.
It offers a durable steel cable line of 94 ft which is really astonishing because most of the steel winches cables come much shorter in length.
The cable line has a thickness of 3/8 inches so that you don’t need to think about its breaking point unless you try to pull something beyond its capacity.
It comes with a 6.6 HP series wound motor that produces enormous power and ensures top-notch performance in any condition.
For optimum recovery access, a heavy-duty hook is included in the package. It will allow you to pull out your friend’s wrangler from the deepest holes off the road.
The pulling consistency is backed by the sturdy 3 stage gearbox. You should know that the motor and gearbox work in collaboration to offer the best performance from the wince machine. The gear rotation for the Spartacus is 218:1.
The automatic load-holding brake system feature installed in the winch allows you to start pulling without any fear of reverse pull.
It also stops the drum from rotating while the machine is turned off and holds its position when the clutch is in operation. Like all other Rugged Ridge winches, it also comes with a hard-wearing 12 feet cable remote solenoid box.
The length of the remote cable is great for performing the operation from both inside and outside of the vehicle. It’s always better to make full use of remote length to avoid potential rope failure.
However, you need at least a 650 CCA battery to operate the Spartacus winch. And if you are wondering about how long you can operate the winch at once, then I should say 3 minutes is ideal.
Putting pressure on the motor for more than that could lead to motor failure.
Though the manufacturer is a little reserved about mentioning the duty cycle of the winch, from a general understanding, you wouldn’t want to keep it in operation for long without giving some time for cooling down.
#3. Rugged Ridge 15100.60 Winch
Well, the previous two items have been the choice of heavyweight users.
So, the last product of the Rugged Ridge winches review is comparatively and dedicated to the occasional users who need to pull something smaller and lighter in cases.
The Rugged Ridge 15100.60 Winch has a pulling capacity of 3000lbs. It comes with a single-line steel cable with a thickness of 7/32 inches.
You can say this one’s cable is quite thinner than the other two winches in the list. But you need to know that the wire that comes with it has an aircraft-grade certification.
The winch has a black powder-coated finish which makes it look classy.
On top of that, stainless steel hardware used in it offers a rust-free long lifespan with seamless performance. It weighs just about 9.35 pounds and has a body dimension of 16 x 10 x 9 inches.
The best thing about The Rugged Ridge 15100.60 winch is it has a universal fit. It can be installed in any vehicle, be it an ATV or UTV, once the front bumper offers a winch mount feature.
The winch is backed by a long-lasting 12V 1.3 HP permanent magnet motor. It should pull out anything within 1500 kg without any disruption. The automatic load-holding braking system boosts up the performance of the wince to some extent.
You would be glad to know that the motor and gearbox are fully sealed so that no foreign object can make its way through the internal wiring even if you ride on a wet dirt road.
But there is a subtle drawback in the item as it doesn’t come with any institutional waterproof certification.
However, it has a strong 3 stage planetary gearbox with a 198:1 gear ratio. The planetary gear setups are much more efficient than the unorthodox worm-style setups.
It offers faster line pulling but trade-offs with a zero-self braking option. But the additional auto braking system balances things up for it.
For a swift operation, you will get a corded remote and a mini-rocket. The wire has a length of 12 feet which is enough for operating the pulling maneuver from a safe distance.
The Rugged Ridge 15100.60 Winch comes with a traditional high performance of 200 AMP solenoid.
You should know that the solenoid can produce excessive heat in extreme conditions if you put too much pressure on it.
So, it’s better to go slow and if possible, give pauses during the operation to cool down your machine a little.
It will ensure better performance and prevent the winch from worn out sooner.
The Bottom Line
This Rugged Ridge winches review is made focusing on the latest high-performing winches from the mentioned manufacturer.
Though you will find a lot of companies out there producing similar kinds of products today than ever before. This leaves you with a variety of options in hand to choose the best fit for your vehicle.
As an enthusiast off-road participant, you might desire a faster line speed, but it’s also necessary to focus on the towing capacity and build quality of the winch for better and balanced performance.
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